With the approaching release of OpenBSD 3.9 on May 1, 2006, project creator Theo de Raadt [interview] stressed the importance of contributions, "I would like to remind our community that our project lives and breathes because of the sale of CDs and the receipt of donations." He went on to note that most of the donated funds are actually from individuals, "almost all of our donations really do come from individuals, and almost none from companies using our software. Even though there are many many companies doing so. Some companies are small, but there are also quite large ones. And banks. Government institutions. Ones you see in the news every day. And operating system vendors who reuse our code." His plea went out to the larger companies, "financially we are under strain, and it is not letting us grow any of our bigger plans. If anyone has any real clout to make changes within institutions that could help us in the long term, please do. Like universities, or even companies that want to sponsor an entire hackathon."
Hackathons are unique to the OpenBSD project [story], regular week long events attended by most OpenBSD developers in which they all sit down and focus on their respective interests, benefiting from face to face communication with their peers. I was fortunate enough to attend the 2005 OpenBSD hackathon in Calgary, seeing firsthand the impressive amount accomplished at the high-energy low-sleep events [story] [story] [story]. OpenBSD CDs, tshirts and posters can be ordered from the project's ordering page. A detailed list of changes in OpenBSD 3.9 can be found here.
From: Theo de Raadt [email blocked] To: misc Subject: Pre-orders for our releases. Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 14:55:33 -0700 I would like to remind our community that our project lives and breathes because of the sale of CDs and the receipt of donations. In the last few years a few very large donations have allowed our hackathons to happen, but other than that we are always digging ourself a bigger and bigger hole. Most of our user community increases their use of the FTP servers, while we naturally sell fewer CDs. For instance, I would approximate that the sale of every T-shirt we make probably does not pay for the electricity used in the machine room. It's about $5000 a year. This is placing a severe strain on our ability to toss money at projects. For instance, we want to hold more mini-hackathons, since they are so incredibly productive. And we would like to pay for more travel expenses for developers to these events, since there are always developers who are less fortunate. Yet almost all of our donations really do come from individuals, and almost none from companies using our software. Even though there are many many companies doing so. Some companies are small, but there are also quite large ones. And banks. Government institutions. Ones you see in the news every day. And operating system vendors who reuse our code. But financially we are under strain, and it is not letting us grow any of our bigger plans. If anyone has any real clout to make changes within institutions that could help us in the long term, please do. Like universities, or even companies that want to sponsor an entire hackathon. (But please do not send suggestions, because unfortunately we think we have heard every single one of them before, and people never listen when we say that it is not viable for us to play non-profit games, nor selling special merchandise, nor will it help to hire people to write special books. We've heard all these ideas before. Having us impliment more ideas does not help. It's time for outsiders to impliment things which just let us continue what we do).
From: Darrin Chandler [email blocked] Subject: Re: Pre-orders for our releases. Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 07:58:18 -0700 Chris wrote: > Theo de Raadt wrote: > >> Yet almost all of our donations really do come from individuals, and >> almost none from companies using our software. Even though there are >> many many companies doing so. Some companies are small, but there are >> also quite large ones. And banks. Government institutions. Ones you >> see in the news every day. And operating system vendors who reuse our >> code. > ... >> But financially we are under strain, and it is not letting us grow any >> of our bigger plans. If anyone has any real clout to make changes >> within institutions that could help us in the long term, please do. >> Like universities, or even companies that want to sponsor an entire >> hackathon. > > > I'll do my part today and pre-order 3.9 and a few T-shirts for me and > the Mrs. I've pre-ordered as well, and I hope many of the individuals using OpenBSD will buy CDs and swag. And I kick in the odd donation now and then. There should be more people like us, for sure. However, I don't think that's the gist of the message. OpenBSD is being used by large companies in significant roles and few or none are kicking in money. If anyone here works for/with such a company and can influence them then consider trying to get them to send money to the project. If they contributed a small fraction of what they'd pay for a comparable commercial OS then there would be a lot less worry about resources. I work for a very small company, and I've only managed to get OpenBSD in the door recently. However, the reception has been quite positive. They won't be sponsoring any hackathons, but I can probably get them to either buy CDs or donate the equivalent cash. This will help, but not much. It's the big companies that are using OpenBSD for their edge boxes, infrastructure, public servers, etc., and not putting up a dime that could (and should) make a large difference. They're getting a big benefit from OpenBSD and have a vested interest in seeing in continue. Anyway, that's how *I* read it. Theo, correct me if I'm wrong. -- Darrin Chandler | Phoenix BSD Users Group dwchandler@stilyagin.com | http://bsd.phoenix.az.us/ http://www.stilyagin.com/ |
From: Theo de Raadt [email blocked] Subject: Re: Pre-orders for our releases. Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 10:42:46 -0700 > However, I don't think that's the gist of the message. OpenBSD is being > used by large companies in significant roles and few or none are kicking > in money. If anyone here works for/with such a company and can influence > them then consider trying to get them to send money to the project. If > they contributed a small fraction of what they'd pay for a comparable > commercial OS then there would be a lot less worry about resources. > > I work for a very small company, and I've only managed to get OpenBSD in > the door recently. However, the reception has been quite positive. They > won't be sponsoring any hackathons, but I can probably get them to > either buy CDs or donate the equivalent cash. This will help, but not > much. It's the big companies that are using OpenBSD for their edge > boxes, infrastructure, public servers, etc., and not putting up a dime > that could (and should) make a large difference. They're getting a big > benefit from OpenBSD and have a vested interest in seeing in continue. > > Anyway, that's how *I* read it. Theo, correct me if I'm wrong. You are right. The small donations do help, thanks guys, but it is kind of like feeding our project in little pieces, and it does not allow us to do big things, or plan ahead for big things. That said, we are the only major project doing these hackathons, and it shows. And we would like to do more. But if the finances keep coming in small like this from users, it gives us great pause before arranging these (sometimes quite costly) events.
That's the trouble with the B
That's the trouble with the BSD license - no contributions back, and no dual licensing to raise money.
Well then why didn`t even ANY
Well then why didn`t even ANY LINUX gave any code back even ALL use OpenSSH....
Your points are pathetic. Like all those Linux guys who think that GPL would solve anything even their own OS/Distribution never gave anything back to the BSDs....
Think about it before you answer..
Maybe it`s the first tiem you`ll use ya brain.
You moron
Hey, why don't you shut the hell up and try to understand what it is
you are talking about before you write anything, you moron.
ANY LINUX doesn't use ALL OpenSSH. What the hell is that supposed to
mean? Many Linux distros (note, not the Linux kernel) use OpenSSH, and
I'm sure they're more than happy to contribute back bugfixes if they
have any.
Secondly, what do you think OpenSSH is compiled with, eh? What about
the rest of OpenBSD? It isn't a one way street, you know.
Lastly, the whole POINT of using the BSD license is to allow people
to use and distribute the code without giving anything back. So, umm,
if you are getting upset at people using your code within the terms
of you license then you are using the wrong license, it sounds like
the GPL is a better fit for you.
But what am I talking about? A moron like you would never have written
a scrap of code in their life, only start BSD vs GPL flamewars on
internet forums.
Up until the GCC maintainers
Up until the GCC maintainers started flatly refusing patches for the older platforms that OpenBSD supports, the OpenBSD developers were some of the only people supply patches to maintain those platforms. Now they're simply no longer supported.
And no Linux organization of any kind, nor any GNU organization has ever contributed anything of significance to the OpenSSH project, a stray patch to the portability effort means nothing to OpenSSH. The same goes for Unix suppliers.
That they make use of this code readily but do not even try to contribute to the bandwidth or electricity costs of maintaining the servers is what is at issue. de Raadt and company are not asking for salaries, they're asking that people don't simply take their money and shit in their faces for it.
And your point is?
Up until the GCC maintainers started flatly refusing patches for the older platforms that OpenBSD supports, the OpenBSD developers were some of the only people supply patches to maintain those platforms.
If you're the they're the only ones who care about it, then nobody else is going to do it for them.
Now they're simply no longer supported.
So what? There is nothing to stop them forking it or using older versions.
And no Linux organization of any kind, nor any GNU organization has ever contributed anything of significance to the OpenSSH project, a stray patch to the portability effort means nothing to OpenSSH. The same goes for Unix suppliers.
But the point is that they would if they found a bug (and they do for other BSD and similarly licensed works). They don't only distribute a secretly patched modified ssh binary, at least most don't.
That they make use of this code readily but do not even try to contribute to the bandwidth or electricity costs of maintaining the servers is what is at issue. de Raadt and company are not asking for salaries, they're asking that people don't simply take their money and shit in their faces for it.
Sounds like he picked the wrong license. Boo hoo.
No YOUR points are pathetic,
No YOUR points are pathetic, it's not possible to remove the GPL to throw at the BSDs.
Besides, why would we help Microsoft steal even more technology from the OS communities?
Useless license...
Do you morons honestly think
Do you morons honestly think that the GPL license would make any difference donations wise?
It's hype that generates money, not a license. Linux just happens to be the hyped up product that happens to have a GPL license.
Dual licenses certainly gener
Dual licenses certainly generate money for the companies using them (Not that I'm all that sure I really like dual licensing).
Donations in the form of new code also helps a lot, if not more than money...
Dual license hypocrisy
Dual licenses create two classes of citizen - the regular users, and the company who "owns the code" who typically sells "commercially enhanced" versions, while accepting an incorporating code contributions from the community.
BSD license hypocrisy
On the other hand BSD licenses create two classes of citizens - regular users, and companies who sell "commercially enhanced" versions, while accepting an incorporating code contributions from the community.